@georgeob1,
It's difficult for me to understand what useful purpose reparations would serve.
Very few, if any, people who suffered the direct damages of slavery are still alive and while I an argument can be made that all African-Americans have suffered indirect damage as a result of institutionalized slavery, clearly the degree of damage varies greatly and would be impossible to calculate. Would the answer then be a single amount paid to each African-American?
What exactly is an African-American and how would someone verify that they meet whatever criteria that is established? The cost of administering such a program might possibly exceed the total amount of reparations paid.
I'm sure that there are quite a few people who, after the payment of reparations, would then expect African-Americans to
just shut the hell up about discrimination. I doubt this would sit well with a lot of people (not just African-Americans), and rightly so.
If there was some possibility that the payment of reparations would result in our once and for all putting the shame of institutionalized slavery behind us, it might be attractive, but I seriously doubt that would happen. No one time event is going to accomplish this.
From a fundamental perspective, the argument that reparations (as they would likely be made) are not just would be many with some more compelling than others.
"No one in my family ever owned slaves" "My ancestors didn't come to this country until after slavery was abolished. Why should I have to contribute to reparations?" "My great-grandfather died while serving in the Union army, why should I be forced to contribute?" Incompletely satisfying one group's sense of justice while arousing anger for injustice in other groups can't possibly be helpful.
I imagine that a countering argument might be that if you enjoy the benefits of being an American citizen it's only right that you assume its historical debts, but couldn't this same argument be made to African-Americans? And what of Americans of ethic backgrounds that at some time in our history experienced harsh discrimination? Chinese immigrants were hardly welcomed to America with open arms and in certain cases (railroad workers) were beset with conditions approaching those of slavery. Even if they didn't demand reparations themselves, they could make a comparably legitimate argument that they should be exempt from contributing.
For whatever good reparations might do (and I question that they would do much good at all) they could easily result in a lot of division and discord.
Frankly, it's not as if this is a burning issue for the majority of African-Americans in this country, nor is it the case that substantial efforts have not been made to counter the effect of the discrimination they have experienced and suffered from. I suspect that most would prefer an end, once and for all, to existing discrimination rather than a paycheck for sins hundreds of years old.